'Yes, we did many things, then - all Beautiful ...' Lyrical, powerful poems about love, sexuality, sun-soaked Greece and the gods. Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions. Sappho (c.630-570 BCE). Sappho's Stung with Love is available in Penguin Classics.

Biography is one of the most widespread literary genres worldwide. Biographies and autobiographies of actors, politicians, Nobel Prize winners, and other famous figures have never been more prominent in book shops and publishers' catalogues. This Handbook offers a wide-ranging, multi-authored survey on biography in Antiquity from its earliest representatives to Late Antiquity. It aims to be a broad introduction and a reference tool on the one hand, and to move significantly beyond the state-of-the-art on the other. To this end, it addresses conceptual questions about this sprawling genre, offers both in-depth readings of key texts and diachronic studies, and deals with the reception of ancient biography across multiple eras up to the present day. In addition, it takes a wide approach to the concept of ancient biography by examining biographical depictions in different textual and visual media (epigraphy, sculpture, architecture) and by providing outlines of biographical developments in ancient and late antique cultures other than Graeco-Roman. Highly accessible, this book aims at a broad audience ranging from specialists to newcomers in the field. Chapters provide English translations of ancient (and modern) terminology and citations. In addition, all individual chapters are concluded by a section containing suggestions for further reading on their specific topic.

Sixty years ago, the University of Chicago Press undertook a momentous project: a new translation of the Greek tragedies that would be the ultimate resource for teachers, students, and readers. They succeeded. Under the expert management of eminent classicists David Grene and Richmond Lattimore, those translations combined accuracy, poetic immediacy, and clarity of presentation to render the surviving masterpieces of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides in an English so lively and compelling that they remain the standard translations. Today, Chicago is taking pains to ensure that our Greek tragedies remain the leading English-language versions throughout the twenty-first century. In this highly anticipated third edition, Mark Griffith and Glenn W. Most have carefully updated the translations to bring them even closer to the ancient Greek while retaining the vibrancy for which our English versions are famous. This edition also includes brand-new translations of Euripides' "Medea", "The Children of Heracles", "Andromache", and "Iphigenia among the Taurians", fragments of lost plays by Aeschylus, and the surviving portion of Sophocles' satyr-drama "The Trackers". New introductions for each play offer essential information about its first production, plot, and reception in antiquity and beyond. In addition, each volume includes an introduction to the life and work of its tragedian, as well as notes addressing textual uncertainties and a glossary of names and places mentioned in the plays. In addition to the new content, the volumes have been reorganized both within and between volumes to reflect the most up-to-date scholarship on the order in which the plays were originally written. The result is a set of handsome paperbacks destined to introduce new generations of readers to these foundational works of Western drama, art, and life.

Anacreon is one of the most important of the Greek archaic lyric poets and has enjoyed a rich reception in both ancient and modern Europe, from Horace in Rome to the so-called Anacreontic poets in modern Europe (among them Abraham Cowley and Robert Herrick in England, and the young Goethe in Germany). However, despite his importance within the classical canon, there has been no full-scale commentary on the fragments of Anacreon in recent decades (with the exception of a single commentary in modern Greek). The two volumes seek to address this gap in scholarship by providing a detailed and up-to-date commentary on all the known fragments of Anacreon alongside a freshly edited text, critical apparatus, and a new translation. The commentary to reconstruct the context of the fragments, shedding light on Anacreon's relation to earlier poets and discussing a variety of aspects of his work, including language, style, narratological analysis, intertextuality, and performance. Close attention has been paid to Anacreon's elaborate poetic language and use of imagery, especially in the representation of paradoxical emotions: the analysis systematically applies the refined tools developed in recent studies on the language of archaic poetry in order to describe and explain these phenomena, while recent findings in the history of religion and classical archaeology have been brought to bear on his representation of the gods. Fresh interpretation of the papyrus fragments has been particularly fruitful as new material has come to light and fundamentally changed our perception of Anacreon: these show that besides familiar topics such as love, the symposium, and observations of everyday life, more unexpected themes such as the Demeter-cult numbered among his concerns and played a significant role in his poetry.

The Traffic Systems of Pompeii is the first sustained examination of the development of road infrastructure in Pompeii-from the archaic age to the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE-and its implications for urbanism in the Roman empire. Eric E. Poehler, an authority on Pompeii's uniquely preserved urban structure, distills over five hundred instances of street-level "wear and tear" to reveal for the first time the rules of the ancient road. Through a thorough, yet lively, investigation of every facet of the infrastructure, from the city's urban grid and the shape of the streets to the treatment of their surfaces and the individual elements of construction, the intricacies of the Pompeian traffic system and the changes to its operation over time emerge in vivid detail. Though archaeological expertise forms the backbone of this book, its findings have equally important historical and architectural implications. Later chapters probe how the street design and infrastructure affected social roles and hierarchies among property owners in Pompeii, illuminating the economic forces that push and pull upon the shape of urban space. The final chapters set the road system into its broader context as one major infrastructural and administrative artifact of the Roman empire's deeply urban culture. Where does Pompeii's system fit within the history of Roman traffic control? Is it unique for its innovation, or only for the preservation that permitted its discovery? Poehler marshals evidence from across the Roman world to examine these questions. His measured and thoroughly researched answers make The Traffic Systems of Pompeii a critical step forward in our understanding of infrastructure in the ancient world.

A Cyclops is popularly assumed to be nothing more than a flesh-eating, one-eyed monster. In an accessible, stylish, and academically authoritative investigation, this book seeks to demonstrate that there is far more to it than that - quite apart from the fact that in myths the Cyclopes are not always one-eyed! This book provides a detailed, innovative, and richly illustrated study of the myths relating to the Cyclopes from classical antiquity until the present day. The first part is organised thematically: after discussing various competing scholarly approaches to the myths, the authors analyse ancient accounts and images of the Cyclopes in relation to landscape, physique (especially eyes, monstrosity, and hairiness), lifestyle, gods, names, love, and song. While the man-eating Cyclops Polyphemus, famous already in the Odyssey, plays a major part, so also do the Cyclopes who did monumental building work, as well as those who toiled as blacksmiths. The second part of the book concentrates on the post-classical reception of the myths, including medieval allegory, Renaissance grottoes, poetry, drama, the visual arts, contemporary painting and sculpture, film, and even a circus performance. This book aims to explore not just the perennial appeal of the Cyclopes as fearsome monsters, but the depth and subtlety of their mythology which raises complex issues of thought and emotion.

This riverrun edition of Turgenev's most accomplished stories contains A Nest of Gentlefolk, A Quiet Backwater, First Love, and A Lear of the Steppes - the defining masterpieces of his career. Justly celebrated as a novelist, playwright, and poet, these stories encapsulate his skills: in the scope and span of his depiction of nineteenth-century provincial life; in his nuanced portraiture of the vivid quirks of human character; and in the elusive poise of his narrative style - all artfully captured in Jessie Coulson's subtly brilliant translation. Presented by riverrun editions with an exclusive preface by award-winning translator Boris Dralyuk.

Literature in Exile of East and Central Europe is a collection of articles discussing authors whose homelands range from the former Soviet Union to the former Yugoslavia. For the purposes of this book, East and Central Europe comprise Russia, Poland, Germany, Czech Republic, Romania, and former Yugoslavia. These writers were exiled as a result of unbearable political climates - be it nations of the Communist block, including former Yugoslavia torn by its civil wars, or in the case of Poland, its partitioning by neighboring powers in the nineteenth century. No other book has collected such a variety of discussions from this geopolitical region, featuring authors who chose exile over the extinguishment of their individuality. Organized by theme and geography, this book will be of interest to a wide group of readers: from the topic of exile to research in Slavic (Czech, Polish, Russian, and post-Yugoslav), Romanian, German, and comparative literature. Literature in Exile of East and Central Europe is a valuable supplement to courses in Eastern and Central European history, as well as a primary text for courses in East and Central European literature.

A dynamic and necessary new translation of Sophocles' unsparing drama about a desperate wife's lethal scheme to keep her warrior husband's wavering love

In Women of Trakhis, Sophocles challenges the very ideal of Greek manhood, portraying the classic mythological hero Herakles as a man equally capable of courageous feats and savage acts.

Deianeira is an ordinary woman married to Herakles, the most feared and storied hero of the ancient world. To preserve their marriage she must constantly struggle to keep her husband's affection, cope with her anxieties about his dangerous profession as a hired killer, and endure his amorous pursuits of other women. Though she knows he is resourceful and violent, with a merciless temperament and legendary strength, she attempts to bind him permanently to her with a love potion from a source she should never have trusted, and thus loses everything she values.

This extraordinary new translation by Robert Bagg presents a classic drama in a modern idiom while remaining faithful to the original Greek. Women of Trakhis preserves the depth and subtlety of the dramatist's characters and ideas, and the lyricism of his poetry. This is Sophocles for a new generation.

Will Britain take him in... or mark him as its enemy?'A brilliantly realised world of Imperial ambition and native resistance' Simon Scarrow'Wonderful, distinct characters' Conn IgguldenFaustus Valerianus is the son of a Roman father and a British mother, a captive sold among the spoils after Claudius's invasion. Now both parents have died within a month of each other, and so he sells the family farm and enlists, joining legendary general Agricola's campaign to conquer the entirety of the British Isles culminating in a devastating battle amongst Caledonia's dark mountains. But Faustus will have to contend with more than ferocious British warriors and whip-cracking elements. For the bonds of blood can weigh heavy on one's soul. The call of his mother's true people. His father's restless shadow. Faustus must carry them with him... A deeply moving, gripping, epic historical drama, perfect for fans of Rosemary Sutcliff, Ben Kane and Simon Scarrow. Praise for Shadow of the Eagle 'Faustus is a fascinating character and it's a treat to see how he negotiates the challenges he faces. His duties in the service of Rome comprise a truly Faustian pact!' Simon Scarrow 'I adored Faustus and Constantia in particular. Great sense of humour throughout. This is a terrific read' Conn Iggulden 'I only need one word to describe this stunning novel: masterful' Anthony Riches, Sunday Times bestselling author of Wounds of Honour 'Blood, steel, honour, and a deep and gripping tale of the Roman army on the frontier of the empire. Hunter has created an instant classic' S J A Turney, author of the Marius' Mules series 'A haunting, historical epic' Gordon Doherty, author of Sons of Rome 'Enthralling and authentic historical roman fiction, that brings the period alive and keeps you turning the page' Alex Gough, author of Emperor's Sword

The On Poems by Philodemus of Gadara (c.110-35 BC), the Epicurean philosopher and poet who taught Vergil and influenced Horace, is our main source for Hellenistic literary and critical theory, bridging the gap between Aristotle and Horace. In Book 2 Philodemus rebuts two almost unknown critics, Heracleodorus and Pausimachus, who argued, respectively, that the sound arising from the word-order (synthesis) is the source of poetic excellence, regardless of the content and word-choice, and that the pure sound of the vowels and consonants, which vary in quality, is that source. By putting together fragments from both the summary and the rebuttal of these theorists, we can form a full picture of their thought. Philodemus led the Augustan reaction against this invasion of literary criticism by musical theory, arguing that form and content are interrelated, and that well-expressed content, not pretty sound, is what makes poetry worthwhile. Book 2 reveals just how much and how inventively Horace drew on the ideas of all three writers in composing his Ars Poetica. The extensive remains of this scroll, carbonized in the eruption of Vesuvius, were thoroughly jumbled after their rediscovery in the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum. This edition painstakingly reconstructs their original sequence according to new methods, while exploiting previously unknown manuscript sources and technologies for ordering and reading the extant pieces. In thus restoring this lengthy aesthetic treatise from antiquity, it makes another major addition to the corpus of classical literature.

Adespota Papyracea Hexametra Graeca provides a comprehensive corpus of 'anonymous' hexameter texts on papyri, parchments, ostraca and tablets that have appeared in the current and past two centuries. The project has three main objectives: i) to retrieve and determine how many and what type of unidentified hexameter poems reached us via Egyptian papyri; ii) to restore a readable and reliable text for these poems, providing straightforward access to material that has been hard-to-reach in print format, is still unavailable online, or has not been previously translated into English or any other modern language; iii) to discuss, insofar as the fragmentary state of the evidence allows, issues of style, metre, and attribution. Overall, it aspires to serve as a fresh and solid starting-point for future assessment of Greek poetry in Egypt from the Archaic period to Late Antiquity. This first volume of papyrus adespota contains: i) a catalogue of hexameter adespota, and ii) critical editions with English translation and commentary of: cosmologies and foundation poems (no. 01-06), astronomical and astrological texts (07-12), didactic and technical poetry (13-16), hymns (17-32), fragments of erotic content (33-38); epithalamia (39-43); and two hexameter anthologies, the Goodspeed papyrus (44) and the so-called Pamprepius codex (45). Future volumes will contain: Encomia and Lamentations (46-67); Bucolic (68-71), and Epic poetry (72-144); assemblages of Homeric verses (145-154); magical verses (155-166); oracles (167-169); fragments of uncertain genre or content (170-204); hexameter quotes from grammatical papyri and ancient commentaries (205-216); (217-219); gnomic hexameters (220-221); pangrams (222-235); texts copied or produced within a school context (236-242).

One of the foundational texts of Western literature, the Oresteia trilogy is about cycles of deception and brutality within the ruling family of Argos. In Agamemnon, queen Clytemnestra awaits her husband's return from war to commit a terrible act of retribution. The next plays, radically retitled here as The Women at the Graveside and Orestes in Athens, deal with the aftermath of the regicide, Orestes' search to avenge his father's death and his ceaseless torment. A powerful discourse on the formation of democracy, The Oresteia illuminates the tensions between loyalty to one's family and to the community. In this classic for future generations, Oliver Taplin captures the lyricism of the original.

Trojan Women tells the story of the survivors of the Trojan War, the women and children taken into slavery by the victorious Greek army. Through the tragedy's central character, the matriarch Hecuba, this late play (415 BCE) demonstrates Euripides' commitment to speaking on behalf of the less powerful and offers a scathing critique of Athenian behavior as the city fought its own disastrous war with its southern neighbor, Sparta. Trojan Women features well-known characters from Greek mythology, including the prophetess Cassandra, the gods Athena and Poseidon, and most notably, the infamous Helen, the cause of the war, who must defend herself to the husband she abandoned. This new translation features a text committed to accuracy and clarity, one developed in collaboration with actors for clear reading and performance. Appendices provide other important literary treatment of the women in the play, from Homer to Shakespeare.

In the first twelve chapters of Book 9 of his Ab Urbe Condita, Livy tells the story of how, in 321 B.C., a young and untested Samnite commander named C. Pontius traps four Roman legions in the narrow mountain pass in the southern Apennines called the Caudine Forks. Stunned at his own success, he seeks the counsel of his father, who tells him that he must either let them go unscathed or slaughter them all to the man; there is no third option. For Pontius, however, turnabout is fairer play: long bristling under the jackboot of Roman saevitia et superbia, he decides to take this opportunity to inflict a little of his own. He frees the Romans, yes, but only after humiliating them by making them strip to their under-tunics and crawl beneath the yoke of the vanquished. What Pontius fails to realize is that the Romans will never suffer such indignation without answering with absolute reprisal. So, by his own foolish act of saevitia et superbia, Pontius guarantees the very outcome he was trying to avert: the destruction of his people and the ultimate hegemony of Rome throughout peninsular Italy. This gripping story of Roman honor and fortitude under fire, at a time when Rome's hegemony on the Italian peninsula was far from a foregone conclusion, is presented in Roman History for Latin Students: Ambush at Caudium, Livy Ab Urbe Condita Book 9.1-12.328 for the first time in a student-friendly edition, complete with Latin text (328 lines), a full vocabulary, and a comprehensive apparatus of notes on grammatical matters and rhetorical terms.

The letters of Seneca are uniquely engaging among the works that have survived from antiquity. They offer an urgent guide to Stoic self-improvement but also cast light on Roman attitudes towards slavery, gladiatorial combat and suicide. This selection of letters conveys their range and variety, with a particular focus on letters from the earlier part of the collection. As well as a general introduction, it features a brief introductory essay on each letter, which draws out its themes and sets it in context. The commentary explains the more challenging aspects of Seneca's Latin. It also casts light on his engagement with Stoic (and Epicurean) ideas, on the historical context within which the letters were written and on their literary sophistication. This edition will be invaluable for undergraduate and graduate students and scholars of Seneca's moral and intellectual development.